Title: A rule-based manufacturing modelling system

Authors: Flavio Bonfatti, Paola Daniela Monari, Paolo Paganelli

Addresses: Department of Engineering Sciences, University of Modena, via Campi 213/B, 41100 Modena, Italy. ' Department of Engineering Sciences, University of Modena, via Campi 213/B, 41100 Modena, Italy. ' Democenter scrl, viale Virgilio 55, 41100 Modena, Italy

Abstract: The paper is aimed at presenting the overall architecture and main features of the software package resulting from the Esprit 111 project 8224-RUMS (a Rule-based Manufacturing Modelling System). Its ultimate objective was to provide small-medium enterprises (SMEs) with advanced software modules supporting long-term (strategic) planning, medium-term (materials and resources) planning, short-term (shop-floor) planning, and the underlying models of product and process. Interfaces between the RUMS modules and popular commercial MRP packages have been studied, to interact with purchasing and inventory management modules. To suit the typical SME manufacturing organisation, production planning software must take into account requirements and constraints that are generally not found in larger enterprises. Moreover, SMEs have difficulties in adopting the expensive and burdensome set of solutions that are presently needed to cover all the planning functions. A strong and continuous interaction with real cases at different SMEs has been carried out, both for validating the model and for measuring its impact on the enterprise organisation.

Keywords: ESPRIT IiM projects; long-term planning; materials planning; strategic planning; resources planning; MRP; process modelling; product modelling; scheduling; small and medium-sized enterprises; manufacturing SMEs; rule-based modelling; manufacturing modelling; shopfloor planning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.1997.062236

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 1997 Vol.10 No.1/2, pp.1 - 14

Published online: 02 Jun 2014 *

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